We are in Puerto Vallarta ! It is so beautiful here, especially the Villa (Villa Canta Mar, Garza Blanca) my Mom & Dad rented. We have a place with an unobstructed gorgeous view of Bandereos Bay and our own private pool just off of the living room. Luckily the 6 pesos meteorite bus stops right below the villa, so getting down to old town PV is easy. Downtown is just as I remember, exciting, and bustling with shops, great restaurants, cheap taco stands, local vendors, time share hustlers, and good energy. Sitting in beach front restaurants, toes in the sand , cold drinks sweating on the table, vendors hawking everything including bathroom sinks!. I just love when the shopping comes to you! I just wish I had space for some items. It is either buy something and throw something out, or don’t buy anything at all. The latter being the best on our budget.
We spent today, snorkeling around the Los Arcos (the arches) islands and this evening walking the Malecon, snacking, doing happy hour margaritas, and eating dinner. Like La Paz, PV has a beautiful Malecon, a seaside walk, but it is a bit more wild. Alas, no pictures as my super duper water proof digital camera somehow leaked and got water in it. I am drying it out now, and hoping like a cell phone, it will start working again. Keep your fingers crossed.
Camera is operational again! Enjoy the pictures.
The view from the villa
Mom and Dad having breakfast by the pool
The poolHolidays in Paradise
Christmas was wonderful, in paradise. With the full kitchen of the 2800 sq ft Villa, Brian and I decided to cook. He got a turkey and I made my famous beet & parsley fettuccine. Now, I don’t really like beets, but I like em this way! Other fantastic diner items included, a candied pecan, blue cheese, apple salad, garlic mashed potatoes and Brian’s wonderful leek vegetarian stuffing. This all topped off with fine Swiss chocolates and a sherry wine cake that was to die for (heirloom recipe). We feasted, then swam at sunset,, and feasted again. Even though we forgot the champagne (for Mimosa‘s) we did have a couple bottles of fine red wine. There was even a tree (however only 6” tall), complete with presents. Life remains very good, indeed. Blink and the week was gone, at least that is what it felt like. I can’t really tell you where the time went, but we must have just had a blast since it was over in a flash. Now we are hustling up places to stay and boats to look at &/or crew on. Nothing yet but we will definitely keep everyone posted.
Christmas Sand Sculpture on the Beach
View from Le Cliffe Restaurant
Special restaurant guests
Mom & Dad at the restaurant
Dad & I Christmas Eve
View of Los Arcos from the Villa
6 Spotted Eagel Rays- snorkeling Los Arcos
The tunels or arches of Los ArcosNew Years
Not sure how we got so lucky, guess it’s the karma thing or pay it forward movement, but we met some very cool people at Joe Jacks restaurant, who let us stay in their condo for New Years eve, day - til the 2nd. They had to go back home and wanted someone in their place they own for Dec, for the last couple of days. This was so cool since we haven’t found a boat gig yet and it is located right on the water in the romantic district! So we found ourselves in luxury, in paradise again, oh darn :) .
Not sure how we got so lucky, guess it’s the karma thing or pay it forward movement, but we met some very cool people at Joe Jacks restaurant, who let us stay in their condo for New Years eve, day - til the 2nd. They had to go back home and wanted someone in their place they own for Dec, for the last couple of days. This was so cool since we haven’t found a boat gig yet and it is located right on the water in the romantic district! So we found ourselves in luxury, in paradise again, oh darn :) .
I know I will not do this justice, but the fireworks New Years Eve were incredible. Not just because, they had a good show, but because there were so many great shows, all going on, all at the same time, around the entire bay. We had fireworks right in front of us, and directly next to us right and left. Not to mention the 20 other shows we were trying to watch going off. There were so many fireworks going, that the sky was a bit smoky at one point, occluding some of them. This lasted for about ½ hour, followed by sparklers and dancing to loud bands in the streets.
2009 Year
Happy New Year! As the years tick away faster and faster, I find it important to set yearly goals, or resolutions. However, I realize to accomplish this effectively it is first & equally important to work towards your overall life goals, when setting yearly ones. Since I don’t really have a 5 year plan (or it has changed so dramatically that it is unrecognizable), or have never really put in words my overall life goals, that‘s my number one resolution - come up with a plan. There, that is my goal, my numo uno resolution, in writing, for everyone to see. Of course, my second goal is to lose weight, along with 60% of the rest of the world’s. I say 60% because the world is made up of 55% women right? I am kidding on this one, of course, as I find it a resolution no one keeps!
Happy New Year! As the years tick away faster and faster, I find it important to set yearly goals, or resolutions. However, I realize to accomplish this effectively it is first & equally important to work towards your overall life goals, when setting yearly ones. Since I don’t really have a 5 year plan (or it has changed so dramatically that it is unrecognizable), or have never really put in words my overall life goals, that‘s my number one resolution - come up with a plan. There, that is my goal, my numo uno resolution, in writing, for everyone to see. Of course, my second goal is to lose weight, along with 60% of the rest of the world’s. I say 60% because the world is made up of 55% women right? I am kidding on this one, of course, as I find it a resolution no one keeps!
Business aside, the start of 2009 has been grand. I am looking forward to what this year brings, and all the adventures and places we will visit & experience. We are still in PV, and still looking for a boat or a boat ride. We sent back 2 suitcases of stuff, so we can travel lighter. We still have way too much stuff though. I got us a fancy dancy new 2.2 lb, 8.9inch, Asus computer, with a built in webcam and loaded with windows XP. It’s bitchen. My parents even want to get one. That is going some since my Dad wouldn’t even touch a computer 5 years ago! Hopefully we can get rid of Brian’s anvil of a laptop soon, unless of course we purchase a boat. Boat shopping, however slow, seems to be starting to fall into place. We have made several offers but people still want too much. Counter offers and crew positions are coming in. We are starting to meet people in the boat community and others with local knowledge. In the meantime, I guess we will be going to a lot of timeshare presentations to earn a little cash :). Got to do something, no joke, we get $350 USD per presentation.
